Arts & Culture :: Movies

Monstrous: scary but offensive

Monstrous: scary but offensive

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • Aug 18, 2020

'Monstrous,' the new chiller available on DVD and on-demand August 11, is a film which claims to be a Bigfoot movie. Actually, the legendary monster makes but a few brief cameos in the film.

Home movies: late summer cinema selections

Home movies: late summer cinema selections

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Aug 18, 2020

Dark drama, enlightening documentary and a psychedelic romp: 'The Prince/El Principe,' 'For They Know Not What They Do' and 'Holy Trinity' are reviewed.

Besties forever: Jack & Yaya's true love story

Besties forever: Jack & Yaya's true love story

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Aug 4, 2020

Seeing as how 'Jack & Yaya' is first-time co-directors Jen Bagley and Mary Hewey's full-length documentary debut, Bagley and Hewey get more right than wrong in their rendering of this touching true story.

Remembering John Lewis: 'Good Trouble' documentary recounts a life of activism

Remembering John Lewis: 'Good Trouble' documentary recounts a life of activism

  • by Victoria A. Brownworth
  • Jul 28, 2020

The new documentary by Dawn Porter, 'John Lewis: Good Trouble,' makes no pretense of being anything but a paean to Lewis's life and activist work.

All God's children get off - 'Yes, God, Yes' reveals Catholic school kinks

All God's children get off - 'Yes, God, Yes' reveals Catholic school kinks

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Jul 28, 2020

For her feature-length directorial debut, Karen Maine doesn't shy away from subject matter that hasn't gotten the attention it deserves. In the case of 'Yes, God, Yes,' the hot button topic (so to speak) is female masturbation.

Burning love: 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire's voluptuous affair

Burning love: 'Portrait of a Lady on Fire's voluptuous affair

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Jul 21, 2020

Portrait of a Lady on Fire, just released on Blu-ray DVD, is one of the best lesbian films ever made, nominated for nine Cesar Awards. A sensual dreamy romance about forbidden love and the healing potentiality of art, it also analyzes how desire works.

Arthur Bresson, Jr.'s early erotic films stream on PinkLabel.TV

Arthur Bresson, Jr.'s early erotic films stream on PinkLabel.TV

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • Jul 20, 2020

Before he directed 'Buddies,' the first AIDS-themed gay feature film, filmmaker Arthur Bresson, Jr.'s early films documented Gay Freedom Day parades and idealized sexuality in San Francisco's 1970s.

Frameline44 announces 11-day film festival Sept. 17-27

Frameline44 announces 11-day film festival Sept. 17-27

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • Jul 19, 2020

The world's longest-running and largest showcase of queer cinema announced that the Frameline44 Festival, previously postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be held virtually September 17—27, 2020.

Welcome to Chechnya: searing documentary exposes violent homophobia

Welcome to Chechnya: searing documentary exposes violent homophobia

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Jul 14, 2020

David France's searing new, brutal chilling exposé documentary, 'Welcome to Chechnya' is the harrowing saga of the purging war, via torture, beatings, and executions of LGBTQ people in Chechnya spearheaded by its Putin puppet leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.

Twin Peaks Tavern documentary's benefit screening July 10

Twin Peaks Tavern documentary's benefit screening July 10

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • Jul 8, 2020

A Castro district institution for decades, the historic Twin Peaks Tavern is the subject of a 2019 documentary, to be screened as an online fundraiser July 10.

Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado

Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado

  • by Victoria A. Brownworth
  • Jul 7, 2020

Walter Mercado will make you laugh, make you surprised, make you raise an eyebrow or two. And he will bring you to tears with his sincerest wish that you have love, the "Mucho mucho amor" part of the title of the new Netflix documentary about his life.

Meet Brian Falduto: Gay Life Coach is also a little bit Country

Meet Brian Falduto: Gay Life Coach is also a little bit Country

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • Jul 7, 2020

Fame came early for Brian Falduto, a child actor in 'School of Rock.' Falduto is now back in the limelight, albeit in a very different way. He's an LGBTQ life coach and Country music singer-songwriter.

Women bending genres: 'Good Kisser,' 'A Good Woman is Hard to Find' reviewed

Women bending genres: 'Good Kisser,' 'A Good Woman is Hard to Find' reviewed

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Jul 7, 2020

Lesbian filmmaker Wendy Jo Carlton seems to have a thing for intimate, almost stagey movies. Her latest, 'Good Kisser,' also fits into that mold. Abner Pastoll's thriller 'A Good Woman is Hard to Find' is also reviewed.

Frameline44 screens AIDS-themed films online

Frameline44 screens AIDS-themed films online

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • Jul 3, 2020

Although its hit mini-festival is over, Frameline continues to screen ticketed and free films online, including a series of narrative documentary and short films about AIDS.